Not everyone who came to the river was seeking renewal and Elijah. ⁷ When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Historically, in the Judaism of Jesus’ time, the Pharisees and Sadducees were opposing religious parties, unlikely to work together. Matthew is not reporting the facts of an event, but is describing the Jewish opposition as a united front, already manifesting itself against John as it would later against Jesus. John does not shy away from the opposition, but labels them a “brood of vipers” (literally “sons of snakes.”) It paints the image of people scurrying away from the coming eschatological judgment like snakes fleeing a forest fire. 

John’s words seem to be aimed at the “brood of vipers,” but the words equally apply to all gathered at the river: ⁸ Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance. ⁹ And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones. ¹⁰ Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. The theme of the coming eschatological judgment appears again with an image of the axe at the root of the tree but is prefaced with “even now.” The judgment is just over the hill and headed this way, relentless and will brook no exceptions. You will not be saved on the basis of your lineage to Abraham. But then the story of John in the wilderness also has an audience in the nascent church (as well as today) – membership in the Church in certainly a new lineage to Christ, but judgment is based the call to discipleship, to baptism, and giving evidence of one’s conversion in the fruits of one’s life lived out as disciples to Jesus, a theme repeated in 7:16–20; 12:33; and 21:18–19).

At this point John returns his attention to the one to be baptized: ¹¹ I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the holy Spirit and fire. 

The superiority of the “mightier one” is explained in terms of two baptisms. John’s water-baptism is a preliminary ritual with a view to repentance, clearing the way for the real thing, the baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire. Water is an outward sign, but the work of the Holy Spirit will be inward. Since fire occurs in both v. 10 and v. 12 (and probably also by implication in v. 7 in the imagery of the snakes escaping the fire) as a metaphor for God’s judgment, it should probably be taken in the same sense here. The coming of the Holy Spirit will burn away what is bad and so purify the repentant people of God. (France, 113)

“Baptize in the Holy Spirit” is a phrase used in the NT almost exclusively in the context of this contrast between John’s water-baptism and the salvation Jesus brings (cf. Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33; Acts 1:5; 11:16). Thus the contrast between water and the Holy Spirit here is not between two stages in Christian initiation, but between John’s baptism and that of Jesus. Christian baptism did of course adopt John’s use of the outward symbol of water, but the use of the outward sign in no way detracts from the true spiritual significance of baptism into the Christian community; it symbolizes (as for John it pointed forward to) that same pouring out of the Holy Spirit which is the essence of the Messiah’s saving ministry. (France, 114)

After the snakes escaping the fire (v. 7), the tree cut down and burned (v. 10), and “baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire” (v. 11), John now adds another metaphor for judgment (also involving fire), that of the threshing-floor.  ¹² His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” The threshed grain is thrown up into the air with a winnowing-fork so that the wind can blow away the chaff while the heavier grain falls back onto the threshing-floor. Only when all the chaff has been separated from the grain is the latter collected and stored away for use, while the chaff is burned. 

The metaphor is a familiar one (Isa 41:15–16; Pss 1:4; 35:5 etc.; cf. the burned stubble in Mal. 3:19) and needs no explanation. It will in part be picked up in Jesus’ parable of the weeds in 13:30, 40–4. But two of the words used point beyond the pictorial scene to the reality it signifies. The verb translated “clear” is more literally “completely clean” or “purify;” in the agricultural imagery it perhaps indicates the threshing-floor left bare when all the chaff has been separated off and the grain stored,but metaphorically the verb points to the purpose of God’s judgment, the complete removal of all evil leaving a purified people. 

With the mention of a fire “that cannot be put out” we have moved beyond the agricultural scene, where the fire must die when all the chaff has been burned, to take up an aspect of God’s judgment which will be repeated in 18:8 and 25:41, 46, the “eternal fire/punishment” which awaits the wicked. The strong emphasis on judgment should not cause us to forget the positive aspect of John’s message, that while the chaff will be burned up, there will also be “grain,” a continuing purified “remnant” of the true people of God It is the drawing together of that true nucleus of Israel which is the ultimate aim of the ministry of John, as it will be of that of Jesus. The judgment is only a means to that end.

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Image credit: John the Baptist Preaching | Pieter Lastman | 1219 | Art Institute of Chicago | PD-US